


a soft place to land

by captainafroelf



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Babies, Black Character(s), Established Relationship, F/M, I forgot to make vision do things???? so he's just here, Marriage, Minor James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Minor Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson, Minor Wanda Maximoff/Vision, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Steve has a secret family, original female character(s) of color - Freeform, safe house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 08:22:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11227071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainafroelf/pseuds/captainafroelf
Summary: after a rough battle, steve takes them to his safe house. they weren't sure what they were expecting, but it really wasn't this.





	a soft place to land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dezzy1995](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dezzy1995/gifts).



> i spent like two months on this lmao Yikes  
> this is for a very sweet person who requested steve having a family with a black wife with senegalese twists and i Tried My Best

When Steve said that he had a safe house, the team expected a small apartment, one they would all have to huddle into the living room of. Tony and Natasha had already begun a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would get to share the couch with their boyfriend. They didn’t really care where they were going, they just needed somewhere to rest, hang their hats for a day or two, and come back together stronger somehow.

To their surprise, the helicarrier landed somewhere quiet, in a wide field of trees and fresh green grass. They were somewhere down south, the heat told them that. The air was open and clear. They must have been far from the city because as the sun finished setting, stars began to peek through.

The port opened and Steve stepped out first with a proud grin. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair, making it neat despite the few small scratches and bruises on his face. His shoulders fell and he exhaled as if he’d been holding his breath the entire time they were landing.

They followed him up a grassy path to a two-story house. An unassuming one, with a swing on the porch and wind chimes blowing in the breeze. It had peach and apple trees as well as a greenhouse, and a small field with well tended to plants.  It gave them a bit of deja vu from when they first arrived at Clint’s house.

As they got closer to the house they heard small feet running to the door. Behind the screen door was a brown-skinned little boy with familiar twinkling blue eyes. He was holding a Thor action figure in one hand and banging on the screen excitedly with the other.

“It’s daddy!” the little boy exclaimed. “Daddy’s home!”

Steve opened the door and the little boy went flying into his arms. The next person who came to the door was a dark skinned woman rocking a baby in her arms. She was a few inches shorter than Steve but carried herself with equal authority, if not more authority. She was wearing a pretty teal maxi dress and her shoulder length hair was done in Senegalese twists, pulled back into a half-up do. She waited for Steve to finish greeting his son, looking on with excitement.

He stood up slowly and smiled at her. “Sorry I didn’t call first.”

The woman smiled. “You never do, I don’t know what you apologizing for.” She kissed him on the cheek, and handed the baby over to him, then looked back at the battered Avengers standing on her lawn. “Y’all hungry?”

“Very much so!” Thor said. “It has been a long and trying day.”

She nodded in understanding then turned to Steve. “If I’m making dinner for, like, eleven people, you helping. One of them gotta help too.”

He cooed his baby girl. “No problem, honey. Sam?”

Sam made a funny face at the little boy, who quickly ran into the house. “Sure.”

She gestured for the rest of them to come in. “Don’t be strangers, I won’t bite.”

“But we _are_ strangers…” Pietro murmured. Wanda elbowed him in his side. “It’s true.”

Steve cleared his throat. “So, um, this is my house.” he said. “This is my wife, Hazel. My son, James.” He kissed his daughter's chubby cheeks. “And this is Lena.”

Their son was running around the room with his action figure, pretending to be Thor. When he saw that the _actual_ Thor was in his house, his awestruck eyes glittered. Hazel smiled back at the god. “He’s a huge fan of yours.”

Thor smiled and knelt down until they were at equal height. Little James looked like he was mere moments from a heart attack. “Hello, little warrior, who are you battling today?”

The curly haired boy pointed to the corner of the room where a Barbie doll was sitting on a Lego throne. “She stole daddy’s shield!”

Pietro gasped dramatically. “Did she? Why did she do that?”

The little boy shrugged. “She’s mean.”

Hazel laughed. “Do you two mind entertaining him? He already ate so I just need him to get sleepy enough for B-E-D.”

Pietro nodded. “That we can certainly do.”

Steve walked back over to Hazel. “Honey, I’m gonna take a shower and put Lena to bed, she yawned right in my face.”

“You’re clearly boring her.”

He laughed and the baby leaned her head on her dad’s chest and her eyes fluttered shut.  “Aww, princess… She’s like ‘Okay, guy, you’re cool and all but you’re not ma’.”

“Is there anything I need to stitch up?”

He shook his head. “Not this time.”

He carried his daughter upstairs and Hazel turned back to the rest of the team. “We been married about four years,” she told them. “Only people he told were Sam and Fury.”

Natasha furrowed her brows. “Four years? When did you meet?”

“That’s a long story, it’ll probably bore y’all…” She paused and then looked at Sam. “You the only one cooking with me and Steve?”

“Nope!” Clint exclaimed, stepping forward. “Your baby girl, does she fall asleep quickly?” Hazel nodded. “How’d you manage that?”

“James is a quick sleeper too, when he wants to be. They don’t get that from Steve and I, we’re kinda restless. Always have been. The rest of y’all can get settled upstairs. We got three guest rooms and lotsa room down here unless you wanna lay down in the helicarrier for the night.” She watched Bruce’s expression grow slightly panicked and she giggled. “That’s not really an option, don’t worry. We got room for everyone.”

They made their way upstairs, looking around at the furniture, the family photos, the light blue paint on the walls. It was so… tender. So sweet. It wasn’t just a safe house, it was truly home. A place to escape the modern chaos and for Steve to have soil to root himself in.

Tony and Rhodey passed the nursery, which decorated to look like a castle in the clouds. Steve was leaning over the crib whispering to Lena about how much he missed her, how much she looked like her mother now, how he wasn’t gonna be away for that long again. Before he could catch them staring, they kept walking to the guest room.

“Shit…” Tony said, setting himself down on a bed across from where Vision and Wanda were setting themselves up. “Didn’t even know he could still-”

“Tony, don’t.” Wanda warned him.

Rhodey shook his head. “Had I known this was his safe house, I never would’ve asked if we could come…”

“Why not? This is the perfect safe house.”

“This is his _family_ , Tony. Anyone could find out we’re here, then what happens to them?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Natasha said, walking into the room holding a framed picture that she seemed to be studying like a book. “This place has S.H.I.E.L.D written all over it.” She turned the photo around, revealing an old picture of a family with a young daughter that looked like Hazel’s spitting image. “Think these are her grandparents? Great-grandparents?”

“I think you should put that back.” Rhodey said.

“C’mon Rhodes, Steve’s married and you don’t wanna know more about his wife?”

“It’s none of our business. She’s being too kind already just letting us stay here with her and her kids.”

Steve walked over to them and leaned on the doorway with a towel slung over his shoulder. He seemed to glow from being in the house. Just standing near the calm coat of blue paint on the walls made the color of his eyes more pronounced. This was a different side of Steve Rogers, one he established on his own, one that was private. They stared at him as if they’d just met him when they’d met his wife.   

“We got two showers and another bathroom downstairs. But Hazel’s not gonna care much if you smell like a battlefield so just wash your hands and make your way down.”

“So why are you showering?” Tony asked him.

Steve grinned. “I always try to smell good for her, Tony. She’s popped out two kids, it’s the least I can do.”

Natasha showed him the picture. “Is this her family?” He nodded. “This must be her grandmother then, it looks just like her.”

“Yeah, that’s a story for her to tell,” he said. “I better get moving.”

“Hazel knows how to stitch up wounds?”

Steve nodded. “She has nurse training.”

He walked away and Natasha looked at the picture again. Something wasn’t adding up in her head, but she decided to hold back until she could actually ask Hazel herself.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Clint was assuring Hazel that they hadn’t told Steve to do anything reckless and that he’d just done it on his own. The problem was, he wasn’t merely preaching to the choir, he was also speaking to a reckless person with her own history of ignoring the caution of others.

“Steve doesn’t care about strategies, he makes all of his strategies up as he goes, I call it the Headbutt Approach.”

Clint shook his head. “Well, at least you know about it.”

“I personally don’t like to headbutt things before I know what’s behind them. So, I use what I call the Dynamite Approach to solve my problems. Steve kind of hates it.”

“What’s the Dynamite Approach?”

She held up a sweet potato as if it were a stick of dynamite. “If you go up to a door and ask what’s behind it and the person tells you to fuck off? _Boom._ ”

“Boom?”

“Boom.” Sam laughed. Hazel rolled her eyes. “You laugh but it works. I don’t play nicely with people who are in my way. I’ve been kicked around and treated like shit enough to know when the guy on the other side of the door is an insufferable ass and the right course of action is to just…. _Boom_.”

Clint nodded and smiled. “I really like you.”

“Careful, Agent Barton.” She held up her ring with a smirk. “I’m spoken for.”

* * *

 

After they were all clean and shed off their gear, they headed downstairs. Whatever Hazel was cooking smelled great. James was having the time of his little life “fighting evil” with Thor and Pietro. Steve joined his wife, Sam, and Clint in the kitchen just in time for her to start having him taste things for her.

It was sweet to watch them together. So comfortable, like people who had been together for ages, but still having so much fun. She was a firecracker, witty as she was beautiful, probably more. It seemed like Steve would set her up to go on long rants and then sit back as if it were the greatest show on earth.

They couldn’t keep their hands off of each other for long stretches either. Hazel found herself brushing his smooth face with her knuckles and pouting. “You really should grow that beard again.”

He rolled his eyes. “You ever gonna get over that?”

“Til death do us part, so… No?”

Thor walked into the kitchen with James on his hip and Pietro following closely behind. “Lady Hazel, your beautiful boy has had enough fun.”

She mouthed her thanks and pulled him from Thor’s arms. “Daddy’s friends are nice, aren’t they?”

James nodded and rubbed his sleepy eyes. She set him down and took his hand, then took Steve’s. “We’re gonna tuck him in for the night, dinner’s ready, y’all.”

They walked James up to his room and got him into his pajamas. He climbed under his Avengers blanket and Steve kissed him on the forehead.

“Nightlight on or off?”

“Off!” James exclaimed.

Steve smiled. “You’re not scared of the dark no more?”

He shook his head. “Ma says you scare the monsters away.”

Steve looked over to Hazel. “I may have hyped you up a teeny bit while you were gone.”

He turned back to James and shook his head. “I think the monsters are scared of you, because they know you’re so brave and strong. Now you get a good night’s sleep so you can drive my friends crazy tomorrow, alright?”

The idea of that seemed to make the three year old extremely excitable, which made Hazel laugh. “Truly our child.”

“It’s the passing of a torch, Haze.”

She giggled and kissed James’s cheeks. “Goodnight, my love.”

“Night-night!”

James closed his eyes and his parents turned off his light and headed out of his room, shutting the door. Steve sighed deeply and looked down.

“What’s wrong?”

“I missed him. Missed all of you.”

“We missed you, too.”

She reached out to comfort him but he pulled away. Her touch was something he hadn’t felt that he’d earned yet. “Three long missions in a row. Almost three months without you. How long is that to a kid or to a baby? How long was it for you?”

“Too long,” she replied. “But it felt too long after the first hour without you. Don’t worry about that.”

“I needed you so badly, Haze, it drove me crazy.” He looked up at her again. “Lena’s growing so fast, and James’s hair? When the hell did it get so long?”

“Stevie…”

“All you have to do is say the word and I’m done, Hazel. I will drop the shield forever and be here with you and our family, I promised you that and I meant it.”

She held his face and shook her head. He's brought this up before, too many times for her to count. Sometimes the separation would feel like too much and he'd just break. But she knew he’d get bored. Something would pull him back. That was her Steve. When he smelled trouble he ran right into it. The Headbutt Approach.

“And I promised _you_ that the shield will never get in the way of me loving you. It will never come between us, because what he have is even stronger than vibranium.”

“You’re so…” The corner of his mouth quirked up into a crooked grin. “Dramatic.”

“It must feel nice as hell for you to say that to someone else.” She kissed him and felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her closer like he didn’t even want to think about letting go. “Maybe, when James is old enough to watch Lena or we’re old enough to get a nanny, I could step in.”

His eyes widened. “When did that become an option?”

She chuckled. “It’s always been an option, it was in the fine print of our marriage license.”

He shook his head. “You wanted to be normal, Haze. You deserve that. I thought that’s why only Fury knows about… You.”

“Yeah, but… it’s hard watching you have all the fun out there.”

“Sure you’re not just worried about me, huh?”

“I’m not worried about your impulsive ass. But you should be worried about mine, because I’m five minutes away from asking if I can try on Nat’s suit.” His cheeks turned pink. _“Wow_ , Steve.”

“You can’t set me up like that.” he told her. “Are you really thinking about joining the fight?”

“Thinking about it… But what I have here is so good… It’s enough of an adventure for now.”

“After this mission’s done, I’m gonna be here for a while,” he said. “Just until people absolutely need me. I wanna just be here and be the husband you deserved all along, Haze.”

She took his hands and kissed them. “You already are the husband I deserve, you always have been. Okay?” When he didn’t answer right away, she lifted his hand to his face, gently making him hit himself. “Okay?!”

He couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright.”

“Good. We should go downstairs. Seems like your teammates have lotsa questions.”

“They always do, are you ready to answer them?”

She nodded. “It’ll be fun! Oh, speaking of fun, James really wants to go to Disney World.”

“Of course.”

“I told him that we’ll do it next year for his fifth birthday, all of us, so make sure the world doesn’t need saving that day.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“That’s all I ask for.”

He smiled and they walked downstairs, hand in hand. The rest of the Avengers seemed so relaxed, the most relaxed Steve had seen some of them. Their shoulders slacked, they ate as if they hadn’t in days. They smiled and thanked Hazel when she walked into the dining room.

Steve fixed them both plates and they sat together at the end of the table. Tony turned to Hazel, and Steve gave him a look of warning meant to tell him to think before he spoke. But he was asking the wrong guy.

“So, we were talking.”

“Lovely,” Hazel replied.

“I think you two met at a bar.” Some of the others groaned. “Pietro, miraculously, agrees. We think you met at a bar and Steve, being shiny and golden, persuaded you to a date with him.”

She shook her head. “Sorry Stark, I hate bars.”

“I said you met at a park,” Clint said. “Or a baseball game.”

“That’s closer to the truth,” she said. “Actually, Steve and I met when we were kids. We were neighbors in Brooklyn and we used to play ball together.”

Everyone around the table started to laugh, everyone except for Natasha.

Her eyes seemed to light up at Hazel’s answer. The two women made eye contact and there was a sense of understanding. Hazel went on eating, perfectly happy letting the other Avengers see it as a joke, people always did.

When dinner was done, the team started getting ready for a quiet night of sleep. Steve and Hazel stayed up a little longer so that Hazel could catch him up on all that she and the kids had done while he was away. Eventually, they were rejoined by Sam and Natasha, who sat across from them with their arms folded.

“You hid the truth in plain sight like a master,” Nat told Hazel. “Incredible.”

She grinned. “Even if someone knows a super soldier, it's hard for them to believe that other super soldiers exist. It’s completely reasonable of the others to think I was kidding, I just didn’t correct them.”

“When did you get the serum?” Sam asked. “I didn’t think they’d give it to Black people in those days, especially women.”

She looked back at the oven’s clock. “I could tell y’all everything but it’s nearly midnight, sure you ain’t tired?”

They shook their heads. “Not too tired for this shit, I’m not.”

She bit her lip and thought about it, then patted Steve’s leg. “Tomorrow night. I’ll tell you everything.” Sam and Natasha groaned like tired kids and Hazel stood up and hugged them both. “I promise I’ll tell you anything that you wanna know, but tomorrow. I missed Steve the space heater.”

As quickly as she said that, Steve stood and started to follow her to the stairs. Sam huffed. “How am I supposed to sleep tonight knowing what I know?”

“Like a baby!” Steve said. “Just pretend you’re Lena.”

Sam and Natasha gave up for now, but they would hold Hazel to her promise that she would tell them everything.

Until then, Steve found himself overwhelmed by the fact that she was in his arms again. That he was in their bed, that their baby monitor was so sensitive that he could faintly hear his daughter’s tiny breaths.

His wife smelled like lavender. Her skin was soft and smooth with only a few scars that he knew so well. She still didn’t fall asleep quickly, and she still loved nuzzling into his chest and using him as a human pillow. He was so used to his body being worn out by constant fighting that whenever he was home it felt like a different world.

But this world wasn’t new or old to Steve, it just _was_. That’s all he ever needed Hazel to do for him: Just be.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know if you want more of them (how they met + more)!! i have story ideas but i wanna know if y'all are interested :)


End file.
